Will my Insurance End if I Get Divorced?
Couples deal with a lot of stuff in divorce. They deal with kids and alimony and child support and the house and the cars and the retirement accounts and on and on and on.
One thing that people sometimes overlook in Utah divorces is insurance. Specifically, whether their insurance will end and they won’t be covered when the divorce is finalized.
The sad reality is insurance will end. So, if you are on your spouse’s insurance and you divorce, you will no longer be insured.
Conversely, if your spouse is on your insurance and you divorce, your now ex-spouse’s insurance will end.
Even if you have a clause in your Divorce Decree stating insurance will continue, insurance will end. Insurance companies are not bound by what you put in the Decree, and they drop es-spouses like a hot rock the day divorces are finalized.
Kids and Insurance
This rule does not apply to children. Their insurance coverage will continue because you and your ex still have legal full legal obligations to them.
Workarounds
Just because insurance coverage is one of those bright-line rules in Utah divorce doesn’t mean there are some possible workarounds.
The most common workaround is alimony. If you have to provide your own insurance, that will be a monthly cost included in your alimony calculation. So, if you have to pay $300 per month for your personal insurance, you add that to your monthly expenses when calculating alimony.
Another possibility is negotiating something that obligates your ex to maintain a separate insurance policy for you. Really, this is alimony with another name, so we usually just do alimony. (And, besides, who wants their ex in charge of their health insurance?)
A last, worst possibility is Medicaid. Sometimes, this option is inevitable. When you divorce and there simply isn’t enough money to go around, Medicaid becomes a viable option.
Alimony is designed specifically to avoid situations like this, however. This means you should do everything possible to provide for health insurance in any alimony settlement.
Call Brown Family Law
If you find yourself facing a divorce, please call 801.685.9999 for a legal in-person consultation, or use our online scheduling tool.
